Tucson

Adobe streetfront: door...window...sky. Color. Much of Tucson, like most western U.S. cities, is devoted to strip malls and parking lots, but the historic core still has blocks of 19th-century Sonoran-style row houses. In the 1960s, acres and...

Just beyond the western edge of Tucson, you'll find these Hohokam petroglyphs in Saguaro National Park. No one knows precisely when they were carved into the rocks, but Hohokam settlements in the Sonoran desert date back almost two thousand years....

Popsicles that are prickly? Well, prickly as in 'prickly pear' juice from the cactus fruit that ripens into a sweet, amethyst treat in midsummer in the deserts of the Southwest. They're called tuna in Spanish. Stop by the Farmers' Market on a...

Come here and you'll find a solar-powered bookstore, a Guatemalan restaurant, pubs, galleries, cafés, and this brick wall tribute to Gregory Colbert's "Boy Reading to Elephant." (The words that come to mind when I pass this street art are "tell me...

Residents and visitors alike drive out to the western edge of Tucson on most evenings. The area averages 350 sunny days a year, so viewing the sunset is almost always a possibility. Summer evenings are predictably hot, but you're in for a...

A little over a mile from where the deer roam in the saguaro-studded foothills of the Santa Catalina Mountains, sit down for some izakaya-style dining. Japanese "tapas" might not be a completely accurate description for this genre of shareable...

Just to the southwest of Tucson, on the San Xavier Reservation, sits the late XVIII-century Mission San Xavier del Bac, one of the finest examples of Spanish colonial architecture in the U.S. The combination of late Baroque and Moorish-inspired...

A destination since 1919, Tucson's Hotel Congress is home to the Cup Café—one of the best places in town from breakfast to happy hour and on into late night. Look up when in the restaurant. A couple of 'dead soldier chandeliers' will light your...

Think of beverages in Arizona, and maragaritas may come to mind, but green tea? Lapsang souchong? Pu-erh? A few blocks east of the University of Arizona in Tucson, Seven Cups was recently named one of the best places in the U.S. to have authentic...

When you hear the phrase, "summer in southern Arizona," naturally your thoughts will tend toward heat and sunshine. Most wouldn't think of mounds of fresh produce at a farmers' market in the desert city of Tucson. But the arrival of the monsoon...

For a decade and a half now, Tucsonans have been coming here for fresh-baked bread...and much much more. Get some challah French toast in the morning...or a chicken-green-chile omelette...and no shortage of croissants and scones... Mid-day, if you...

Follow the yellow flower road in the Sonoran Desert; wildflower displays of poppies don't necessarily happen every year. (Last year was a bust in Saguaro Nat'l Park near Tucson; this year the timing of the winter rains was just right!) So, spring,...

This is the gritty, hip end of Tucson - the coffee, books, vintage and beer, all tucked away behind painted murals and discarded cigarette butts. We had coffee at Epic and lunch at Cafe Passe, bought books at The Book Stop and browsed the...

In mid-town Tucson, along with the best Tom Kha Gai soup in town, this mural awaits you in Char's Thai Restaurant. The juxtaposition of mythical Southeast Asian creatures and Monument Valley desert scenery makes for some very unlikely, but...

At the foot of the Santa Catalina Mountains is the ten-acre complex, the DeGrazia Gallery in the Sun. A national historic district, the grounds are a blend of natural desert garden, adobe architecture, and museum—all the vision of one man. Ettore...

The "db"-branded English muffin buns of Diablo Burger are a recognizable trademark of delicious local quality. The ingredients are mostly sourced from within a 250-mile radius of Tucson, including grass-fed, free-range beef from the Diablo Trust...

Puns don't get much better than "Sir Veza." Around since the 1920s, this beer-loving, car-themed Tucson restaurant is run by the same people behind the venerable El Charro, the country's oldest family-owned Mexican restaurant and birthplace of the...

One of the best iced coffee drinks you will ever have is waiting for you at Exo. This Tucson micro-roastery has been voted as runner-up for best local coffee roaster in this desert city... but as you indulge in caffeination here, you'll agree that...

Escaping the lower elevation heat of a southern Arizona summer, my wife and I headed up to the mile-high red-rock country around Sedona. This was the view from our hotel: red rocks all around... Sky Ranch Lodge is perched on the summit of...

Jerome commands big-sky views from its mile-high perch on Cleopatra Hill: look out over red rock mesas and volcanic peaks while standing above a network of 88 miles of mine shafts descending over 4,000 ft. Founded in 1876, Jerome's population fell...

No, you don't have the wrong address—this is indeed a downtown office building and parking garage. But don't be alarmed. Walk through the door, and Café Poca Cosa's stylish interior tells you immediately that this is no boring strip mall Tex-Mex...

Nuzzled up against the Arizona border about 100 miles west of Four Corners are some 30 square miles of the most iconic scenery in the American West. Monument Valley is one of those places that you’ll recognize as soon as you see...

Wine in the western U.S. You inevitably, and justifiably, think of California, Oregon, Washington...but southern Arizona? The high grasslands of Cochise county have seen a handful of wineries spring up in the last few decades. In a scene more...